


Taking Classes and Kicking Asses

by SuccubustyKisses



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Hero Keith, M/M, a very small fight scene, brief mention of Sendak and Haxus as bad guys, hero Shiro, superhero au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-25 01:14:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30081195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuccubustyKisses/pseuds/SuccubustyKisses
Summary: His eyes immediately focus on his new roommate, a tall, muscular man with short cropped black hair, a fluff of bangs hangs in front of wide eyes as he looks back at Keith. Confusion  makes Keith pout as he resists the urge to double check that he’s in the right room as he looks over the other man, eyes focusing on the cloth in his grip. It’s black, decorated with a silver image, and very familiar to Keith.It can’t be.But it definitely looks like it.No, it is. It’s a cape. Just like the one Keith’s fellow hero The Champion wears.His roommate is a superhero fanboy.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 59





	Taking Classes and Kicking Asses

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first piece of two for the Lionhearted Hero Sheith Zine! My amazing artist is @sweet_arsenicc on twitter and the direct link can be found here https://twitter.com/sweet_arsenicc/status/1371827234223235076?s=19

College wasn’t really in Keith’s plans originally. He was content just being a hero. Unfortunately for him, his mother said she’d forbid him from being a hero if he didn’t go. So, here he is moving into a dorm, anxiety making his movements stiff as he walks towards his new temporary home and the person he’s supposed to share the tiny room with.

_What if I hate them._   
_What if they hate me?_   
_What if they’re obnoxious and nosey and snoop around my stuff?_   
_Oh god, what if I like them and we become good friends, but then they get suspicious of how often I disappear?_   
_What if they find out?_

He stands outside the door of his new room for way longer than a normal person should, fighting his own anxieties before he steels his nerves. Squaring his shoulders he reaches out and knocks on the door to announce his entrance before turning the knob and entering the room. It’s predictably small, with two tiny beds, two small desks, two small dressers, and one window, shining the sun brightly into the center of the room.

His eyes immediately focus on his new roommate, a tall, muscular man with short cropped black hair, a fluff of bangs hangs in front of wide eyes as he looks back at Keith. Confusion makes Keith pout as he resists the urge to double check that he’s in the right room as he looks over the other man, eyes focusing on the cloth in his grip. It’s black, decorated with a silver image, and very familiar to Keith.

It can’t be.

But it definitely looks like it.

No, it is. It’s a cape. Just like the one Keith’s fellow hero The Champion wears.

His roommate is a superhero fanboy.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m Keith.” He steps forward, holding out his hand. “You a fan of The Champion?”

Silver eyes look at Keith, down to his hand, further to his own hands, then back up to Keith again before he seems to let out a breath and take his hand in a shake. The shake is looser than it should be, almost nervous. Keith gives his best reassuring smile, which probably isn’t very good considering his lack of people skills sometimes, and pulls his hand back.

“Yeah, I hear he’s a great guy.” His roommate lets his hand drop, Settling the cape into a drawer carefully. “Anyone who gets experimented on by a supervillain and survives to fight against them deserves all the fans, right?”

“Absolutely. His looks don’t hurt his cause either.” Keith grins, moving to drop his stuff on the opposite bed. “From what I hear he has a smile that could turn even the straightest man gay. Lucky for me I’m already there.”

His roommate laughs and it makes Keith’s heart skip a beat, proud he made the other laugh. “Me too, I’m gay I mean. My name is Shiro by the way. So are you also one of those crazed fans of The Champion then?”

“Me? Nah. He’s cute and a great guy, sure. But I’ve always liked The Blade better.” Keith drops his own superhero name easily, excited for the easy cover for him having his work gear.

“Oh? Have a thing for the dark brooding type, huh?” Shiro shoots him a smirk which has Keith rolling his eyes. “You do look the type.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Keith pouts, unable to resist smiling as Shiro bursts out laughing.

_Maybe this won’t be so bad after all._

* * *

School wasn’t always on the agenda for Shiro. Not since he was a teenager and realized he could change his body. The lab explosion that would have burned a normal person to hell and back did nothing but leave a trace of soot over metallic flesh. Shiro watched in awe as his hand returned to simple flesh right before his eyes. After that any thoughts of leading a normal life were shoved aside for childhood dreams come true as Shiro slowly became one of the greatest heroes in the area.

Now, here he is in Altea University, sitting in a tiny dorm room with his superhero-fanboy of a roommate and thinking school isn’t going to be all that bad after all. They’re both sitting on Keith’s bed, books on their laps as they study side by side. Keith jots down a few notes, doodling in the margin of his notebook without really looking as he reads through the text. Shiro hasn’t had a real friend since he started following his path as a hero.

Being roommates with Keith has reminded Shiro that he isn’t just The Champion, he’s also a human trying to find where he wants to be with his life. He joined college on some spur of the moment whim after his boyfriend broke up with him, deciding he could live in the dorms while following his fascination with space and spacecrafts. He actually shares a lot of classes with his roommate, which means they spend a lot of time together.

A smile spreads across his cheeks as he watches Keith pull away from a doodle of a spaceship to tap at his book. A grin spreads across Keith’s lips and Shiro can’t help but stare. The way his cold features soften as he reads something that must clearly interest him in his textbook. Shiro peeks at the book, reading a general paragraph that’s talking about the possibility of different rates of time that could happen while passing through various space fields.

_He’s so cute, what an adorable thing to get excited over._

Shiro looks up, intending to go back to watching Keith study. He turns his head slightly and meets with the bright violet of the other man’s eyes. They stare at each other for an extended minute before Keith blushes a beautiful shade of red and looks away. He lifts his hand up to push his hair behind his ear, sending Shiro another look with a shy smile as he turns the page of his book.

Licking his lips, Shiro realizes two very important things. The first is that he’s in love with his roommate. The second is that he’s well and truly fucked.

* * *

From the first day that Keith met Shiro he knew they would get along great. They hit it off perfectly, and Keith learned what it felt like to have a best friend. They do almost everything together, and when there’s an emergency and Keith has to leave for work, Shiro never questions him. He just smiles, waves, and tells Keith he understands having a hectic schedule.

It’s a dream relationship. Something other heroes _wish_ they could have.

And Keith is the one that gets it.

He’s staring, he knows he is. He can’t help it. Shiro is just too cute. The way he grins when he makes a terrible pun. Or when he laughs full out and ends up bent over and letting out the most adorable little snorts as he gasps for air. He’s doing that right now, leaning against a tree as he tries and fails to breathe around his laughter after Keith made a dry comment about how terrible it must be for prisoners to live in a tiny room with another person, no privacy, and sharing their showers with complete strangers that have no sense of boundaries.

Shiro finally calms down, looking up at Keith as he wipes a tear from his eye and sends him his perfect so-good-it-should-be-framed smile. Keith’s heart skips a beat, his mouth feeling dry as he momentarily forgets how to breath. Shiro is so amazing, Keith wishes he could do more than reach out and punch the other man lightly on the arm. He wants to be able to cuddle up close to him during movies, to run his fingers through his short black hair, to hold his hand and never let go.

He wants to be with Shiro, but he knows he shouldn’t. It’s not safe. He knows first hand how hard it is for someone to be with a superhero. The memories of his mother breaking down at his father’s funeral when he was a boy still haunt him to this day. He could never do that to anyone, especially Shiro. No matter how perfect he is, how strong he is, how weak he makes Keith feel.

Weak for him.

Shiro looks over to him again, flicking an acorn across the grass between them where the remainder of their gourmet lunch of peanut butter and jelly sits between them. His face seems to scrunch up in thought, Keith almost opens his eyes to ask if he’s okay before Shiro is cutting him off.

“Hey, Keith?” He asks.

“Yeah?” Keith watches as Shiro seems to come to a decision, eyes looking momentarily determined.

“You… I mean, I just want to… I have to… Keith I need to tell you that…. That I-” Shiro is fidgeting now, his cheeks a bright tint of red that makes realization come to Keith’s mind. Shiro likes him back.

Throwing caution to the wind, Keith pushes forward onto his hands and knees to draw closer to Shiro. “Me too.”

Shiro freezes, eyes going wide as he looks back at Keith, eyes darting from side to side. “Yeah?”

Nodding, Keith closes the distance between them in a soft, barely-there kiss. “Yeah.”

Shiro’s returning kisses are eager, they make Keith’s toes curl and he has to hold in a happy purr as Shiro buries his fingers in his hair and pulls him closer, practically into sitting in his lap in the middle of the courtyard. Shiro, just like in everything else he does, is a perfect kisser, and Keith can’t give this up. He can’t say no. He loves Shiro too much not to try.

He’ll just have to be more careful. He’s not his mom, he can do that.

For Shiro, he can stay safe.

* * *

The library is quiet, as it should be, groups of students whispering together over opened books take up most of the tables. While others are filled with spaced out lone students hunched over their notebooks scribbling furiously. Shiro is about ninety nine percent certain the kid sitting in the windowsill on the second floor has fallen asleep with his book opened. He hasn’t turned the page in an alarmingly long time.

But, none of that matters, because Shiro is here with Keith. Sitting across from each other in the quiet of the library. They each have their pile of books out, shiro has three and a notebook while Keith has two and a laptop. They’re sitting doing their own thing, which in Shiro’s case is currently spacing out and looking at the people around them. The important thing, though, at least to Shiro, is that underneath the table their ankles are twined together. Hands too busy working on their own projects, but still keeping that affectionate contact he’s come to live for.

He’s never been happier than when he looks away from the probably-sleeping boy to see Keith looking over his laptop at him with a raised brow and a small smirk. He’s too cute. It’s perfect. He could spend the rest of his life here with Keith and feel like he lived it to the fullest.

Raising his arms above his head he feels the tell-tale crack of his back as he stretches out the kinks, preparing to get back to actually doing school work. His eyes wander over to sleeping-in-the-window and he freezes up. There, behind the boy, lit up in the soft night sky is a glowing letter S. The symbol that superheroes are needed. His eyes widen and he jerks to his feet, just in time to see Keith doing the same thing.

“Sorry, I forgot I had to go work on my project with Hunk.” Keith says as he slams his laptop shut and starts shoving things into his bag.

“That’s okay, I forgot something back home so I’m gonna go get it.” Shiro throws back, shoving his own notebook and text into his bag before setting the books he was pretending to study with down on the desk to be reshelved. He hurries out the door, running between buildings and setting his hand on the brick that leads to the hidden changing room supplied for heroes. It opens with a groan and he slips inside, dropping off his backpack in a small storage locker before slipping into his outfit and letting his powers free.

It feels cold, as his body shifts and changes into something lighter, quicker, so he can get where he’s needed faster. Once shifted it takes no time at all for him to make his way on top of the building and start his path towards the area indicated on his watch, blinking up at him with a large red dot. He knows he’s close when he hears the loud explosion, and he puts his hand down to put his focus completely on his destination.

Jumping down he lands with a loud crash, letting his body shift to a sturdier metal form as his eyes meet with Sendak, a large purple man who’s sole quest in life seems to be to destroy everything he can’t own. Which, coincidentally, is a lot of things. Sendak looks up at him with a sneer. “Champion, I have no desire to deal with you today. Haxus, deal with him.”

Before Shiro can even come up with a snide remark a swarm of henchmen dressed in armor are on him. He starts taking them down as fast as he can, ear ringing with every clang of weapon or fist against his own metal skin. He’s taken two of the bodies down before he hears the rev of an engine behind him. Cursing, he hopes it’s not another villain using his current state to their advantage to join in the fight.

He grabs hold of one of the armored enemies, spinning him to knock the others away and throw the one against the wall next to Haxus. The crunch of rock next to him signifies the arrival of the new person. He looks over, poised and ready to defend himself when his eyes fall on lavender skin. The new person doesn’t even look his way before pulling out a shortsword and jumping at one of the henchmen.

Shiro watches the newcomer with a furrowed brow, his eyes moving across skin tight black latex, accented in purple, the twitch of cat-like ears over a mess of black hair that looks way too familiar. This must be The Blade. Keith’s favorite hero. He should ask him for an autograph for Keith after this is all over. He narrowly misses being punched as he checks out his new ally, taking his time to clear the space again. When everything is done, Haxus is gone and there are bodies of henchmen littering the ground, and The Blade is pushing to his feet after punching the last one into unconsciousness.

The profile is just too similar, the hair, the body, it’s way too much to be a coincidence. The Blade turns to him, a confident smirk on his face, and Shiro is sure of it.

“Keith?”

* * *

The moment he hears his voice, Keith freezes, eyes going wide. He recognizes the voice immediately as Shiro’s. Fear runs up his spine. Did Shiro follow him here? Has Sendak and Haxus learned of his other self and taken Shiro hostage? He looks around the area, narrowly avoiding an arrow that comes from a nearby building from a second round of minions led by the escaped weasel known as Haxus.

He continues to search the area, eyes falling on every face he can see. The oncoming faceless minions all have different body types but none are like his boyfriend. He shifts his vision across the destroyed lot to the other hero he’d been fighting with, Shiro’s favorite hero, The Champion. He stands across from Keith, eyes wide and mouth opened in an adorable ‘o’ that Keith immediately recognizes.

“Shiro?!”

The Champion seems to snap out of his stupor, practically flying forward as he launches himself at someone who was sneaking up on Keith, sending him crashing to the ground with a sickening crunch. Keith grabs his sword, turning to stand back-to-back with The Champion, no, with Shiro as they take on the second wave of villains.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Shiro growls out as he punches someone to the ground, a metallic clang like a bell sounding through the air as his fist connects with the metal of his armor.

“What am I doing?” Keith growls as he slashes down two of the henchmen in one curved swipe. “What are _you_ doing here?”

Keith feels a smack against his back as another loud clang fills the air. He glances over his shoulder as Shiro is righting himself, rubbing his cheek as he glares at the man who just hit him with what looks like a massive club. When he talks, his voice sounds authoritative and leaves a chill running down Keith’s spine. “We are talking about this later.”

“Absolutely.” Keith replies, turning back to the enemies with renewed vigor not just to defeat them, but to keep Shiro safe.

* * *

Their tiny dorm room is small, much too small for pacing, but damn if Shiro isn’t doing it anyway. Still in his uniform, cape flipping with every turn he takes on the tiny amount of floor space he has. His mind races, images of The Blade fighting going through his mind. Images of Keith fighting.

He looks up at the shuffle of fabric, Keith climbing inside the window and looking up at him with a violet blush across his cheeks. They stand across from each other, both still in their uniforms, Shiro’s mask thrown aside on the bed. He looks down at the soft, lavender skin of his partner and he feels the overwhelming need to touch him.

The moment his thumb brushes across soft peach fuzz fur, Keith is lunging forward. Their lips connect in a passionate, desperate kiss that leaves Shiro’s stomach fluttering. He pulls Keith closer to his chest, desperate for more. They pull apart and Shiro looks down into Keith’s almost-glowing violet eyes and he feels his heart wrench.

“I really wanted to-”

“I was so scared to-”

They both speak at the same time. Then stop, smiling at each other. Shiro pulls Keith in against his chest, burying his nose against a fluffy ear and sighs. For the first time in a long time he feels content, happy to be himself.

For the first time in a long time Shiro feels like he doesn’t have to hide himself.

“I love you.” The words are soft, barely mumbled against his chest and Shiro grips tighter until Keith is letting out an ‘oof’ from being squeezed too hard. “You’re crushing me.”

“Never going to let you go.” Shiro chuckles into Keith’s hair, squeezing his perfect, beautiful partner harder for a moment longer before he finally lets go. “I love you too, Keith. So, so much. I don’t think I have ever been this happy in my life.”

Keith pulls back, looking up at him with a bright smile. They come together in another, softer kiss this time before. Slowly they pull apart and Keith’s skin starts to fade back to the pale Shiro loves. “You wanna skip that talk and watch a movie instead?”

Shiro grins, leaning down to press a kiss between Keith’s ears, still up and flicking like a cat’s would. “A movie sounds great.”

Violet eyes trail down Shiro’s body, dark brow raised as he takes in Shiro’s stereotypical hero outfit. “How about we get changed into something more comfortable first.”

“You’re just jealous of my cape.” Shiro sasses back, even as he reaches to start undoing his outfit. A half hour later Shiro is freshly showered and they have food from the local take out restaurant. Keith pulls the cap off his head to let his ears twitch free, still cat-like and adorable. Shiro can’t help but reach out and tweak at them a little.

“Stop that.” Keith huffs, giving him a small smile even as he does it.

“I can’t help it.” Shiro says, pulling Keith over to him so he can kiss the tip of one twitching ear. “They’re so cute. I didn’t think you could get any more cute, but here we are.”

“Shut up and eat your pizza.” Keith huffs, bumping his shoulder against Shiro’s as he settles in with his own meal and starts up the movie. They’re about ten minutes in and Shiro can’t stop looking over at Keith with what he’s sure is a dopey smile on his face. He has no idea what they’re watching or even what’s happening in it, all he knows is he loves Keith, and wants to spend the rest of his life with him.

His eyes catch on a light, and with a loud sigh he sees the glowing S in the sky. Hearing his upset sound, Keith looks up at him, then over to the window with a curse. “Oh come on.”

“We could… leave it to the other heroes just this once.” Shiro drops the suggestion, wrapping his arm around Keith’s waist to pull him in closer and nose behind his ear. “If you wanna, I mean.”

“Yeah,” Keith gives his own content sigh, scooting closer to Shiro as he does it. “They’re more than capable of doing it without us for once.”

Reaching out, Shiro grabs the control cord for the blinds and pulls them down, blocking out the mark in the sky so he can relax. The world can wait, he has his world right here in his arms.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please consider hitting the kudos button and leaving a comment. Even just an emoji of a heart will make my day.
> 
> Also don't forget to give the artist praise, the link is https://twitter.com/sweet_arsenicc/status/1371827234223235076?s=19


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